While maintaining that the approach being used by Government and by extension, the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) to pay workers part of their severance is unlawful, Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) and former Attorney General, Anil Nandlall has declared that his party will not fall for the trap of filing immediate legal action, as workers could be left to suffer.
Former Attorney General, Anil Nandall
Making reference to the situation at the now defunct Wales Sugar Estate, when the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) filed legal action against GuySuCo in the High Court in March 2017, Nandlall recalled that it took six months before the matter was called.
In fact, that matter is still before the courts and is expected to come up in early April 2018. In the meantime, 375 workers who refused to take up employment at Uitvlugt, West Coast Demerara, remain without severance payments.
“The sad reality is I believe if the court is to be approached then GuySuCo would use that as a basis not to pay the workers. They will say let us await the court action. So, the workers are between a rock and a hard place…If they go to court, they walk into GuySuCo’s trap and GuySuCo says we are not going to pay you…that is exactly what they did with Wales workers. We are not going to fall into that trap again.”
GAWU President Komal Chand
For this reason, Nandlall said no one has approached the court. However, he noted that at some point in time when the money is not forthcoming, there will be no other alternative but to resort to legal proceedings.
He maintains that the payment of severance is not discretionary on the part of GuySuCo nor is it gratuitous. “It is mandatory and it’s an obligation that the law imposes; the Termination of Employment and Severance Pay Act clearly compels GuySuCo or any employer for that matter to pay severance to workers who are entitled to severance upon termination of their employment,” he added.
Nandlall contends that GuySuCo should have taken into account whether or not it could pay severance before rendering these workers redundant, and dismiss only workers who it could pay severance benefits.
He said it was doubtful that the thousands of workers that have been dismissed would be able to find alternative employment. And that only compounds the matter and makes the case worse.
Non-negotiable
The Opposition MP also raised concerns over GAWU’s handling of the issue. He said, “I don’t agree with the manner GAWU has approached the matter. Quite frankly, I believe that GAWU should have ensured, demanded and taken a non-negotiable position when it comes to severance that all must be paid, or arrangements must be put in place for all to receive in some kind of staggered manner. This is so that every employee will begin to receive their severance benefits even though not all at the same time, but each would begin to receive some amount of money to sustain them.”
Nandlall questioned, “On what basis was one set of workers selected for severance and another not selected? On what basis, some workers will benefit from severance and some have to wait until six months down the line. That is discriminatory and violates the Constitution.”
While GAWU has registered its disappointment with the Government deferring the full payment of severance packages, citing breaches of the Termination of Employment and Severance Pay Act, the Union came out of a meeting last Friday with President David Granger and agreed to have only some of the workers paid full severance, while the others would have to wait for their full sum a bit longer.
However, hundreds of sugar workers have since expressed their dissatisfaction with the way GAWU had handled the estate closures, severance benefits and other issues relative to the sugar industry, and they have called on GAWU President Komal Chand to resign.
Guyana Times spoke with several workers in the sugar belt, and they said they felt betrayed when GAWU agreed to accept that only some sugar workers who were dismissed would get their full severance at the end of January.
